


She's So Gone

by Evvy96



Series: Avengers x Reader Stories [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce ran away, F/M, Reader was there for his accident, Songfic, childhood best friends, she's so gone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 22:45:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16458464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evvy96/pseuds/Evvy96
Summary: This one is inspired by the song She's So Gone from the Disney movie Lemonade Mouth. If you'd like to listen to it as you read, it's on YouTube.





	She's So Gone

y/f/n=your full name  
y/n=your name  
l/n=last name  
h/l=hair length  
h/c=hair colour  
s/c=skin colour  
f/c= favourite colour  
s/f/c=second favourite colour  
e/c= eye colour  
n/n= nickname

The small on-board diner was abuzz with light, music and colour as the Avengers sat crowded around the largest table in the room. They chatted excitedly amongst themselves, occasionally stopping to once again thank Tony for hiring out a small cruise ship for everyone at SHIELD involved in the attack on New York, just as a fun little holiday.  
The lights dimmed, and a voice sounded throughout the room. “Hello, and welcome everyone to the Spotlight Restaurant aboard the Sunset Cruise Ship. We’ve got a special performance lined up for you tonight, Mr. Stark was fortunate enough to secure a week of enjoyment for the whole ship. It’s my great pleasure to introduce to you, the star of the stage, Miss (y/f/n)!”

Bruce’s head shot up at the name, his sight moving from the drink in his hands to the woman walking onto the stage. (H/l), (h/c) hair, smooth (s/c) skin, and a dress of (f/c) and (s/f/c) hugging her figure as she strut to her place centre stage. She looked out to the crowd, a bright white smile adding an extra dose of shine to her presence onstage.  
“Hey there everyone, it’s so great to be here tonight. Before I start, I would just like to take the opportunity to thank my employer for the week, Mr Tony Stark, for giving me the pleasure of being able to perform for all of you this trip. I will only be performing a few songs each night, but rest assured if you do make any requests, I will do my best to make a special performance for you. This first song is a reflection of a time in my past, the person I used to be. I hope you all enjoy it.”

_Insecure_    
_In her skin_    
_Like a puppet, a girl on a string_

_Broke away_    
_Learned to fly_    
_If you want her back, gotta let her shine_

_So it looks like the joke’s on you_    
_Cause the girl that you thought you knew_

_She’s so gone_

Bruce watched as (y/n) sang her heart out on the stage. This confident young woman was a surprising change in Bruce’s mind, but a very pleasant one. He could still remember the timid young adult from his youth, afraid of singing in front of anyone, only being caught when she believed no one to be around.

_Here I am_    
_This is me_    
_And I’m stronger than you ever thought I’d be_

_Are you shocked?_    
_Are you mad?_  
_hat you’re missing out on who I really am_

_Now it looks like the joke’s on you_    
_Cause the girl that you thought you knew_

_She’s so gone_    
_That’s so over now_    
_She’s so gone_    
_You won’t find her around_

_You can look, but you won’t see_    
_The girl I used to be_    
_Cause she’s_    
_She’s so gone away, like history_    
_She’s so gone, Baby this is me_

 

Her voice was heavenly, just as he remembered it. Each note pitched to perfection, the power behind the song tenfold of what he had ever heard from her.

 

_You can look but you won’t see_    
_The girl I used to be_    
_Cause she_

_She’s so gone_    
_So long She’s so gone_

_Gone_

The restaurant erupted into applause, only dying down as the next song began to play. (Y/n) performed for another 20 minutes before leaving stage. When she reappeared, she had changed her clothes and was making her way towards the Avengers’ table.  
“Mr Stark, it’s an honour, really. Thankyou so much for the opportunity.” She smiled as she extended her hand, taking Tony’s in a firm handshake.  
“An honour to meet you too Miss (l/n). And please, call me Tony. I assume you already know everyone’s names?” Tony smiled, and (y/n) laughed.  
“Well, I’d surely hope so. Wouldn’t want to be the only person on the planet not to know the saviours of our world.” She laughed, smiling as she nodded towards each hero, “Captain Rogers, Agent Barton, Prince Thor, Agent Romanoff, -“  
“(Y/n).” Bruce spoke softly, rising to offer her his seat.  
“Doctor Banner.” She spoke, almost coldly, a short nod in his direction as she walked to the opposite end of the table and taking a seat between Clint and Thor. Tony smirked slyly at his friend.  
“You two know each other?” Bruce could hear the smug tone in his voice, and had to take a deep breath as he opened his mouth to speak. “For years, but we haven’t seen each other for-“  
“A lifetime.” (Y/n) interrupted. “I knew Doctor Banner before his accident. I worked with him for a short time. I was there when the accident occurred.”

The rest of the night was beyond awkward for Bruce, and very difficult to sit through. Tony had insisted the (y/n) join them for dinner, and to spend the rest of the voyage with them during meal times. She spent the entire night purposefully ignoring Bruce, only speaking to him when absolutely necessary, and even then they were short, sharp, and cold responses. The rest of the team could only watch and feel sorry for Bruce through their smiling facades. Something had happened in Bruce’s past, something that had made (y/n) very cold towards the doctor, and they were all determined to find out what.

\----------------------------------

The next morning, everyone had crowded around one of the tables up on the deck, diving  in to the smorgasbord of food that was served in the breakfast buffet. Bruce lazily pushed his food around as he stared at (y/n), watching her pile her plate with food and chat excitedly with a pair of fans that stood either side of her in the queue.

“What happened between you two, Big Green?” Tony asked suddenly, breaking Bruce out of his glazy stare.  
“Yeah man,” Clint chimed in, “you must’ve done something pretty terrible to get someone like (y/n) mad at you.”

Bruce sighed, he knew this was coming. He watched as (y/n) moved away from the Avengers table to sit with some other people who had attended the performance the night before, before his eyes swept the team in front of him and he began the story.  
“(Y/n) and I used to be best friends. We met in high school when I accidentally bumped into her in the hall between classes. She was so shy; she kept her head down and muttered an apology before rushing away, trying to look as small as possible. It took me a good three months to get her to talk to me before I could even really build a friendship with her. She was a bit of a science nerd, not as much as me, but it was enough to get her to feel more comfortable with me.  
We did everything together. She was always so timid, it was really an effort to get her out of the house, but I didn’t mind. She was always so kind, and her voice. My God, I mean you guys heard her last night, but she never really sang for me. I only found out she could sing when I accidentally caught her singing softly in the lab after College. She never liked singing in front of anyone, even after I caught her. Always so insecure about herself, nothing she ever did was good enough in her eyes. I’d promised her I’d never leave her alone, that she was perfect in her own beautiful way.” Tony and Clint whistled at this, a smirk on each of their faces.  
“Then the accident happened. I nearly destroyed Manhattan, and I thought I’d be outing her in too much danger if I stayed around her, so I left. In hindsight, it probably would have been better if I had left her a letter or something, explaining why I just left, but I didn’t want to risk her being in danger, so I left before she could find me and get hurt. I loved- _love_  her too much to have put her through that”

The table was silent. Thor was confused, not really having a full understanding of Bruce’s story yet, so he decided to keep quiet. Natasha was concerned for the doctor’s mental and emotional wellbeing, having experienced first-hand what the slightest slip of his emotions could bring about, but she had decided to put that aside for the moment in favour of keeping Tony and Clint quiet. To her surprise and horror, Steve was the one to speak up.  
“Jeez man, I suck with women, and even I know you screwed up. OW!” Steve jumped, knocking the table as he received a kick from the sharp toe of Natasha’s boot under the table. Bruce just scoffed.  
“Thanks Steve. I had no idea. Didn’t even notice.”  
There was such a level of sarcasm in his voice, even Thor realised that, as Bruce rose from his seat, it was best to leave him alone to his thoughts for the time being.

\----------------------------------------------

As Bruce exited the deck, heading back towards his room to read, he walked right into the woman who was occupying his thoughts. She let out an “ooff” as she stumbled, only to be caught by the doctor’s quick reflexes. She looked up, her apology dying on her lips as her (e/y) eyes hardened and her entire posture went rigid.  
“Doctor Banner. Apologies. Please, excuse me.” She pushed him away before turning on her heel, heading back towards her room with the sole intention of avoiding the man for the rest of the day, if not the trip.  
“(Y/n) please just let me explain, please.” Bruce followed after her, determined to at least have her understand.  
“There’s nothing for you to explain Doctor. It was a long time ago and I’ve moved on.”  
“You haven’t looked me in the eye since the moment we saw each other, you’re clearly not over what happened. And you haven’t even used my name once.”  
“And how could you possibly know whether I’m over something or not? When did you suddenly become an expert on who I am? You only know the girl you abandoned eight years ago, and let me tell you, I’m not that girl anymore. Haven’t been for a very long time.” She stepped into her room, fully expecting to close the door in his face and have him leave her alone. Bruce had other ideas, slamming his hand on the door and forcing his way into her room, watching as she continued to ignore him and move about the spacious cabin.

“Don’t bullshit me (n/n),” she flinched subtly at the use of the nickname he had personally reserved for her, “I still know you like the back of my hand, and you know it.” She disregarded him once again, moving to pick up the book from her dresser and rush to a ladies only lounge on the top deck.  
“Stop running away from me! Please, just talk to me (y/n). Please.” He had grabbed her wrist as she had moved around him towards the door, halting her movements and turning her to face him. Only then did she finally make eye contact with Bruce, fire and rage in her eyes. She flung her arm, releasing his grip as she slammed the book on her bed and squared her shoulders, her posture imposing, yet still just as cold a she had been towards him all trip, the anger and hurt radiating off her as she walked towards him.

“You LEFT me Bruce! Without so much as a goodbye, or any slight indication as to where you were going,  _YOU LEFT ME!!!_ ”  
“I was trying to PROTECT you (y/n)! I didn’t know how dangerous the Other Guy could be and I didn’t want to put you in danger. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I had hurt you.”  
“And you thought I couldn’t have helped you through everything?! You weren’t the only one affected by that accident Bruce. I was there too, you know!”

Bruce froze, his eyes widening. He hadn’t thought about anyone having been affected by what happened, least of all his precious (y/n).  
“But…. how-how could you have…. you weren’t anywhere….”  
“Protective glass doesn’t do shit if it’s cracked Banner. So yeah, I got hit by a blast of the radiation, but it didn’t affect me like it did you. My voice became a weapon. I’m something like a siren now. Didn’t notice for a few months after you left, but whenever I started singing, people would start acting strangely, more zombie-like. And if I was mad at someone and sang to calm myself down, if the person was within earshot they would start doing things that were harmful to themselves. I got…. so scared, and I didn’t have anyone to turn to because…. Because my so-called  _best friend_  had abandoned me before I could so much as  _blink_.”  
Tears had started to spill over from her eyes, eight years’ worth of hurt and sadness finally having the chance to bubble over the cauldron’s edge.  
“I had to change myself, learn how to use my new power for good, instead of hurting someone whenever I was upset. Singing was my safe place, aside from you, and with you off God knows where, I couldn’t lose both the things that made me feel a sense of normalcy. I taught myself how to be more confident, and for a while I was recruited by SHIELD to do some undercover work as a singer working her way into the big leagues. I can turn my power on and off, focus it on one specific person or group, collect the information SHIELD needed. After a while, the singing gig became more of a passion, and I’ve been travelling around the world singing for people, crowds big and small.” She gave a small smile as she thought about all the places she had performed, shaking her head slightly.  
"I didn’t have the luxury to stay shy like you did Bruce. It made me weak, the perfect target for the wrong types of people, to be used like some sort of puppet. Now, my life is amazing. I get to go to the farthest corners of the Globe, singing for people around the world without having to worry about all the paparazzi and tabloids crap. I’m finally happy, and it’s not because of the person in my life I thought loved me for the shy, awkward little girl I used to be.”

Bruce stepped forward, lifting her head with his finger and gently cupping her face with his hand. He brushed his thumb over a falling tear and brought his face closer, their noses almost touching and their breaths mingling in the small space between them.  
“(Y/n), I still love you. I never stopped thinking about you. That shy, awkward little science nerd is the thing that drew me in, but the person you were beneath the surface; that kind, funny, dorky girl I came to know,  _that’s_  who I truly fell for.” He leaned in to kiss her, only to have her turn her face to the side and pull away from him.

“The girl I used to be is gone Bruce. And no matter how and hard you look, you won’t find her. I left her behind a long time ago.”

With those words, she picked up her book, turned away, and walked out of her room, leaving Bruce standing there alone, a million different thoughts and emotion running around in his mind and heart.

_So long_    
_She’s so gone_

 

**May or may not be continued my lovelies. It is completely up to you. Leave a comment if you want it to be continued from where I’ve left off, and keep in mind that if it does, it will take a while. I’ve got a lot of stories to publish for you awesome readers.**


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